I remember reading somewhere about a survey carried out still in the 20th century among very old African American people who actually experienced the era of slavery in the south; there were roughly 1,000 respondents in that survey, IIRC. A surprisingly huge percentage of them (regrettably, I do not remember the exact figure) reminisced about the era of slavery as very good old times. They said their white masters took care of them, gave them work, housing, food, even some education, health care, etc. Also, black nannies were taking care of the white children, so the two races became interpersonally intertwined. The respondents went on to say that after slavery was abolished, they were on their own; I am paraphrasing but I recall the impression of something like being thrown out to the cold world without having the resources of the white masters behind them (of course it was the system's result that the black people mostly probably had no capital at all to start their own businesses, etc.).
So I think I understand what she was trying to say - that the southerners knew that black people were fine because they lived with them every day side by side. While others from the north might be paradoxically more prejudiced because they did not have any personal experience with them and might have been afraid of them as of unknown, different, strange, enigmatic people...
The impression I got from the survey was that it was a symbiotic relationship in the south, not always fraught with cruelty, inhuman treatment, etc. Also, I think it is fair to say that the white race at that time was undeniably more advanced technologically and intellectually.
But of course I agree with you, skiny, that slavery was and is unacceptable. And I think it was despicable that white people took advantage of their technological superiority and abused the black people the way they did.
All I am trying to say is that - no pun intended - it is not a completely black-and-white matter; it is more complex.
Look at Zimbabwe - the country fared much better with white people in charge; it prospered, etc. After they drove most white people away, some time after that the country was on the brink of famine IIRC... Once again, the problem I think was that white people, in general, abused their superiorty and were trampling on the natives so the natives were rightfully angered... These cases can be found all over the globe in other more subtle versions... We Czechs have to thank Germans for a lot from culture and technology and advancement in the last few centuries... But many Czechs refuse to recognise this because it came at a price - the Germans were oppressive in the border areas (I mean long before WWII) and, speaking in somewhat naive terms, were sometimes not behaving nicely... etc., etc.
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